This coming Thursday, Feb. 9, American Airlines clips its Boise wings.

American will cut its daily service between Boise and Los Angeles. Currently, American Eagle flies from Boise to the City of Angels twice a day, at 10:35 a.m. and 3:20 p.m.. Beginning Friday, United will remain the only airline with direct service from Boise to Los Angeles.

When or if American resumes its Boise to L.A. flights anytime soon may be hampered by its current financial status. The bankrupt airline announced Friday it wants to slash 13,000 jobs and terminate employee pension plans. Company officials said they need to reduce operating expenses by more than $2 billion annually. Layoffs and other employee-related cuts would comprise more than half of the total savings.

American lost $10 billion over the past decade and financed its red ink with further debt. Meanwhile the last 10 years was marked by a recession and skyrocketing fuel prices.

American has 73,082 full- and part-time employees and its regional carrier American Eagle has 14,237 full- and part-time workers.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation is expected to probe a fatal small-airplane crash at the Boise Airport.

The airport confirmed this morning that a small Lanceair experimental aircraft crashed around 9 a.m., coming down between two runways. The Lancair is a single-engine prop plane. The only person aboard, the pilot, was killed in the crash.

Emergency crews confirmed that they had received a report of a fire aboard the aircraft before it crashed.

Following the mid-morning crash, the airport remained opened, using one runway.

Look at the departure screens at the Boise Airport this morning and next to Seattle, you'll see canceled ... and canceled ... and canceled.

• National Weather Service

While the Treasure Valley's snowfall has abated, a major ice storm has crippled the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with runways completely shut down this morning. As of 10 a.m., 10 planes slated to land at SeaTac were diverted to other cities, and the rest of the planes slated for Seattle have been grounded at their airports of origin.

A quick look at Alaska Airlines' departures from Boise showed a number of Seattle-bound flights (and some heading for Portland) were canceled until further notice. All inbound flights from Seattle have also been canceled until at least early afternoon.

The new year will see fewer flights in and out of the Boise Airport.

Southwest Airlines has already announced that beginning Sunday, Jan. 8, it will discontinue flights from Boise to Seattle, Salt Lake and Reno. This morning, American Airlines revealed that on Thursday, Feb. 9, it will cut daily service between Boise and Los Angeles. Currently, American Eagle flies from Boise to the City of Angels twice a day, at 10:35 a.m. and 3:20 p.m.. After Feb. 9, United will remain the only airline with direct service from Boise to Los Angeles.

An American spokesperson said today's announcement had nothing to do with Tuesday's news that the airline's parent company was filing for bankruptcy protection.

One United States senator became a probable ally with holiday travelers when she introduced new legislation that would force airlines to check at least one piece of luggage without additional fees.

"Many airlines consider checking a bag not to be a right, but a privilege—and one with a hefty fee attached," said Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who introduced legislation that "guarantees passengers one checked bag without the financial burden of paying a fee, or the headache of trying to fit everything into a carry-on."

The bill would allow passengers to check one bag for free and prohibit fees for regular-size carry-on bags.

Airlines began charging for luggage when rising fuel prices continued to eat away at their profits. The fees drew the ire of many passengers, while Southwest Airlines took advantage of the frustration with an ad campaign touting its policy of not charging for checked bags.

All inbound and outbound flights at Boise Airport were landing or taking off on time as of Saturday morning, with no direct flights traveling further east than Chicago or Minneapolis/St. Paul. But the ripple effects are expected to hit every airport sometime in the next two days, and airlines begin canceling flights in earnest to avoid Hurricane Irene.

The five main New York City-area airports were closed to flights beginning at noon today. Hundreds of flights were instantly affected. Over the next three days, it's expected that more than 6,000 flights could be canceled at airports up and down the East Coast. United canceled 2,300 flights today and Sunday, and Delta canceled 1,300 flights through Monday.

Irene is expected to move over the New York region on Sunday, then weaken in New England by Monday morning.

Less than a week following Southwest Airline's announcement that it would clip some of its wings at the Boise Airport, Alaska Airlines announced early today that it will add new flights.

Beginning Jan. 8, 2012—the same day that Southwest trims flights from Boise to Reno, Salt Lake City and Seattle—Alaska will begin offering two additional daily flights between Boise and Seattle. Alaska is also tacking on two additional flights between Spokane and Seattle for passengers who don't mind adding a connection.

Southwest Airlines will be clipping a few of its wings at the Boise Airport come January. The airline unveiled scores of changes to its early 2012 flight schedule today, including the elimination of two round-trip flights to Reno, Salt Lake City and Seattle. The schedule is effective Jan. 8, 2012, through March 9, 2012.

Southwest also added or eliminated other flights across the nation. The airline serves 72 cities in 37 states.

Delays have swept through the United Airlines schedule today, including in Boise, in the wake of a computer system shut down for several hours. United reported widespread cancellations Friday night and early Saturday, and the airline said it could take several days for thousands of stranded travelers to get to their destinations.

An unspecified "network connectivity" problem was fixed early Saturday, but the airline said delays could persist through the weekend. Additionally, many of United's flights were nearly full, so there was little room for passengers to rebook a seat.

Some Continental Airlines passengers were also affected by the outage. United and Continental merged in May 2010.